The CEO of Murray Energy is applauding U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, and says he’s not impressed with how Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who supports the accord, is leading the country.

“I’m not impressed with Mr. Trudeau at all, I don’t think he’s leading Canadians in the right direction, but again, I’m not a Canadian,” Bob Murray told BNN in an interview Wednesday.  

“I care deeply about the greatest trading partners, the greatest friends we’ve ever had, in Canada,” he said. “And I just hope that we can cement the very best possible relationship with Canada that the United States could have. ”

Last week, President Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax,” received backlash from global leaders and top executives around the world after announcing he would pull the United States out the Paris climate agreement.

The accord’s mandate is to reduce the global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Canada's commitment is to reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions to 30 per cent less than they were in 2005 by 2030.

“President Donald Trump was absolutely prudent and courageous to withdraw from the Paris climate accord,” Murray said. “It’s an integral part of his energy agenda.”

“We do not have a global warming problem on this planet, what we have is an energy poverty problem on this planet.”

Murray, a coal industry veteran, says Trump’s move supports coal jobs in the U.S. and was the “right thing to do for America and the world.”

But one of the reasons coal production in the U.S. has fallen is due to the increased use of low-cost natural gas. Murray said he’s confident the coal industry can compete once more of the expected pipelines in the U.S. are built.  

“When we get the LNG ports built in the United States, 20 of which Mr. Obama was holding up the permits for, we’ll be able to get that [natural] gas out of the country , improve the balance of our payments, and that will take the pressure off the United States coal industry.”  

Murray’s company employs about 6,000 people, operates in six U.S. states and produces 65 million tonnes of coal each year.